A pilot study to investigate the scope for an inpatient smoking cessation programme

Many Australian hospitals have recently introduced smoke-free policies.

The aim of this study was to determine the smoking habits of hospital inpatients and to investigate the scope for an inpatient smoking cessation programme.

A cross-sectional survey of adult inpatients of a tertiary-referral hospital who were smoking just before admission. The questionnaire contained items on general demographics, views on quitting, past quit attempts and validated scales - Fagerström test of nicotine dependence, Biener's contemplation ladder and Velicer's smoking decisional balance.

Participants' (n= 125) median age was 53 years and had smoked for 35.0 ± 17.2 years. The majority were male (n= 84; 67.2%) and 45 (36.3%) lived with someone who smoked. Participants self-reported 4.5 ± 7.3 past attempts to quit. Only 61 (49.6%) said that their health professionals ever discussed options to assist quitting. Forty-nine (39.2%) reported accessing smoking areas during their hospital stay. Participants scored 4.5 ± 2.5 on the Fagerström test. Forty-two (33.8%) ranked themselves very high (9 or 10) on the contemplation ladder. The mean difference between the Velicer's subscales -'cons' (α= 0.81) and 'pros' (α= 0.80) was 3.2 ± 10.6 in favour of quitting. Fifty-four (43.9%) participants were interested in starting smoking cessation therapy during their hospital stay. Nicotine patches (31; 25.4%) were the preferred dosage forms to assist quitting followed by oral tablets (23; 18.9%) and chewing gum (20; 16.4%).

Our findings could guide the design of inpatient smoking cessation interventions. Greater efforts from health professionals are essential for informing people about smoking cessation options, promoting their uptake, potentially resulting in higher quit rates.